HILLTOWN — Authorities asked the public for help Wednesday in locating a red Nissan four-door sedan in which two unidentified suspects in the Jan. 18 slaying of 48-year-old Hilltown businessman may have made their getaway.

At a noon press conference at the township municipal building, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler, joined by Hilltown Police Chief Chris Engelhart, played surveillance footage that showed a red Nissan believed to be a 2004-2008 Maxima — although Heckler said it could be an Altima — with discoloration on the front right fender. The video showed the car drive into the parking lot of the Quakertown Shopping Plaza at the corner of routes 309 and 313 at approximately 10 a.m. Jan. 18, then drive behind the Giant Food store and park next to Joseph Canazaro’s black Lincoln pickup truck, which was taken from 321 Swartley Road the morning of the home invasion and murder.

The two vehicles are then seen backing up together to a Dumpster about four car lengths behind them where police later found the pickup truck that afternoon.

Heckler said that during the approximately 10-15 minutes the two vehicles were parked side-by-side, “figures can be seen, we believe, offloading guns and other things that may have been taken in the burglary from the truck to the Maxima and then the Maxima drives away,” leaving the pickup truck behind.

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Heckler asked anyone with information about the vehicle or who may have observed it either in the Quakertown Shopping Plaza or in the vicinity of Canazaro’s Swartley Road residence to call 215-453-6011.

The 62-second surveillance video clip, a still photo of the red Nissan pulled from the video, and an example photo of the same make/model/color vehicle were posted Wednesday afternoon on both the Bucks County Office of the District Attorney’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/BucksCoDA) and on the D.A.’s Twitter feed (@BucksDA).

Heckler said the surveillance video came from security cameras at the Upper Bucks Health and Diagnostics Center, which is located off Route 309 north of the Giant Food store.

The cameras are “some distance up the hill above and overlooking the rear of the shopping center,” Heckler explained, and “one of the problems is it’s a pretty good distance away so you’ve only got so many pixels, the detail isn’t great. If we could dial in that picture tighter and maybe process it to get some of the glare away from the back (of the Nissan), we might be able to be more definitive, but you get what you get.”

Engelhart said that Hilltown detectives recovered the surveillance footage from the Health and Diagnostics Center within 24 hours of the crime, adding that “there is no other video that can be of use at this time.”

Heckler and Engelhart added that detectives “scoured the area up and down 309” in hopes of finding more surveillance footage showing the red Nissan in question, but came up empty.

Heckler said that the footage released to the public gave authorities “no reason to change our view” about the two suspects in the crime — described as a Hispanic man about 5 feet 9 inches tall, and a “smaller Asian male” wearing a black jacket and cargo pants — currently being sought.

Authorites have previously said that on the morning of Jan. 18, two masked men entered the Swartley Road home. The intruders tied up Canazaro’s girlfriend and her son, leaving them in the basement. At some point, Canazaro was killed — police have not revealed the cause of his death. His body was later found in the garage of the home.

Meanwhile, the girlfriend and her son were able to escape and flee the home to get help.

Another child who lived in the home had left for school before the home invasion occurred, officials said.

The suspects took “a number of” firearms, including shotguns and rifles, from the home along with cash and jewelry, police said.

Heckler said that nothing in the video provided information that there might be more than two suspects involved.

“This is an ongoing investigation,” said Heckler. “Could there be more? It’s not a matter I’m going to speculate on.”

Allowing that the surveillance footage shows that “this was an organized effort, we have what would appear to be scouting out in advance and a way of getting away with the proceeds (from the burglary),” he said.

Heckler downplayed the rumor that Canazaro’s murder may have been an organized crime hit.

“First of all, I see the same TV you do — I’m not even sure what organized crime means these days,” he said. “Some people committed this crime. I’m not going to get into speculating about what the specific motivation was or who they may be connected with.”

Still, said Heckler, Canazaro’s troubled financial history — he filed for bankruptcy in 2008 with approximately $10 million in debt, including money owed to several casinos — has complicated the investigation.

“There are certainly a variety of reasons why one might have, let’s say, ill will or feel like Mr. Canazaro owed one something,” said Heckler. “That doesn’t equate with a home invasion and murder, but we still have a lot of avenues of investigation. We’ve reached a point in the investigation where we feel the public may be able to help us with this.”

“We’d rather chase down 10 sightings (of the red Nissan), because there’s no shortage of these cars, but we’d much prefer to chase down wild geese than miss something that would be helpful to the investigation,” he said.

“It would be a major, major piece of evidence to be able to recover that vehicle and find who’s associated with it,” said Engelhart.